Series of documents that trace a path / WED 9-23-20 / Immunity-boosting element / Old-fashioned newsboy's assignment / Kitchen item on a roll / Flavor imparter to chardonnay / Toy with tabs and interchangeable outfits

Constructor: Margit Christenson

Relative difficulty: Medium (4:34)

THEME: PAPER TRAIL (56A: Series of documents that trace a path, as suggested by this puzzle) — circled-square answers contain words that can follow "paper" in a familiar phrase, and those answers form a kind of winding "trail" across the grid

Paper "trail":

• TOWEL (1A: Kitchen item on a roll)
• BACK (15D: Lower-priced edition of a book)
• CUT (25A: Minor injury for an office clerk)
• CLIP (31D: Alternative to a staple)
• TIGER (45A: One making empty threats)
• ROUTE (27D: Old-fashioned newsboy's assignment)
• PLANE (23A: Classroom missile that might be grounds for detention)
• DOLL (28D: Toy with tabs and interchangeable outfits)
• BAG (44A: Lunch carrier, often)
• WORK (47D: Forms to process)

Word of the Day: MEZE (48D: Mediterranean appetizer) —

Meze, mezze, or mazza (/ˈmɛzeɪ/) is a selection of small dishes served as appetizers in parts of the Middle East, the Balkans, Greece, and North Africa. In some Middle Eastern and African regions where it is present, especially predominantly Muslim regions where alcohol is less common, meze is often served as a part of multi-course meals, while in Greece, Turkey, and the Balkans, they function more as snacks while drinking or talking.

• • •

The concept is cute: an actual "trail" made out of "paper" (answers). Solving it was somewhat less than pleasing, though, as a. once you grok the theme you can fill in every theme answer without much thinking, bam bam bam bam etc., and b. the fill (in places), yikes. But then the longer answers are kinda nice overall (INK-STAINED LOW CEILING CAT-SITTING SLACK LINES etc.), so in the end, I think the puzzle probably comes out ahead of your average Wednesday. Wednesday was never my favorite day to begin with, but whatever, ahead is ahead. If I liked Wednesday this well every Wednesday, that would be an improvement, is what I'm saying. Just, you know, spare me garbage like -IANA (about the worst suffix answer imaginable), and maybe tone down the crosswordesey / overfamiliar short stuff (ISAK and EWOK and OCCAM, OH NO!). But I'll take a cute concept, solidly executed, with good long fill for days. Yes I will.

And now a word on Scrabble-f***ing (i.e. trying to cram a higher-value Scrabble tile into the grid just 'cause, regardless of consequences): Carolyn KEENE might be a slightly better choice than Geoffrey BEENE, but KOO is a better choice than absolutely nothing. KOO is nonsense. So the better cross here is BEENE / BOO. I mean ... KOO, come on. You could also flag the "Z" in the SW as Scrabble-f***ing, I suppose, but ... well, a few things. First, MEZE, though entirely new to me and completely new to the NYTXW, is actually a legitimate food thing. Expect to see MEZE a lot more now that someone has broken the seal on it. It seems to have pretty widespread currency, and if we can let TAPA(S) in the puzzle on a regular basis (and we do), then there's probably room for MEZE as well. Also, the "Z" from ZINC feels pretty natural in that position—certainly the best letter to fill the _INC hole. So I'm not blowing the Scrabble-f***ing whistle there. I reviewed the play. No foul. 

Weird that this one turned out to be Medium in difficulty considering how easy the theme stuff was to get. I attribute this to how hard it was to get started in the NW. For 1A: Kitchen item on a roll ([paper] TOWEL), I had SARAN, as (probably) many longtime solvers did, as the clue writer probably suspected we would. Then I "confirmed" SARAN with SIMP at 1D: Ninny (TWIT). My answers there are absolutely solid and plausible, the highest likelihood guesses, to be honest. I also used SARAN to lock in REAR at 3D: What's aft a ship's aft (WAKE), which I'll admit is less plausible than SARAN and SIMP, but once you've got things fixed in the grid, it can be a little hard to unfix them. Anyway, after some fussing about, I got unstuck, got the theme, and then filled in every themer with almost no thought. I also struggled at LADY'S / DYE LOT (not the prettiest part of the grid). Misspelled SKAT (I think of SCAT as animal droppings) (30A: Musical riffing from Ella Fitzgerald). Also struggled with BOTTLE (up) (44D: Hide, with "up"), which I guess kinda means "hide" (your feelings), but the action there feels more like one of forcing or cramming rather than merely "hiding." My brain just wasn't processing the clue right. That's it for the difficulty though: hard up front, mostly easy the rest of the way. See you tomorrow.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld 

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]

Read more...